After we got back from Nauvoo we went to Door County for a few days. For breakfast one of the mornings, we stopped here for some yummy Swedish pancakes. It was fun to see the goats on the grass roof.

We walked across the street to see this. It was beautiful! Look at Papa with his little buddy. Ryan adores him.

Sarah and I hung out on some grass. It was more baby-friendly.

We went to Cana Island to see this lighthouse.

There is Grandma & Grandpa at the top.

We were also able to go on a fun boat cruise. We ate a dinner (fish fry) and enjoyed the sunset. The weather couldn't have been better, nor could the view!

Beautiful! Thanks Mom & Dad for the fun time. Can't wait for you to come out and visit us again!!

Nauvoo

Eric's parents rented a minivan so we could all take a road trip down to Nauvoo. I don't know why so many people hate minivans. I thought it was great! Anyway, we stayed in the Zions Mercantile Hotel. It was beautiful. Eric and I went to Nauvoo three years ago in the middle of March for Eric's spring break. It wasn't as green and beautiful at that time so it was nice to have Eric see Nauvoo at its best and also to have Ryan and Eric's parents there to enjoy all the sites too.

We even had a nice view of the temple. It was right across the street.

We learned how they made bread.

Learning how to make candles.

Making a rope.

 

Seventies Hall

 

The beautiful sunset on the Mississippi River.

The sister missionary was so sweet and let Ryan stand by the toy ox (it was behind the rope). She could tell he had his eye on it.

Here we are at the RS Memorial.

It was so nice that we were able to go to the temple while we were there.

Ryan was pretty excited about getting a mini horseshoe.

We were so lucky to have Eric's parent's visit, not only for graduation but also to stay a week after graduation. We were able to do so many fun things together. The day after graduation we went to this park, had a picnic and played.

We had a little visitor

The boys hit some baseballs.

And Ryan played on the playground.

Sarah sure loves her Grandma!

5.15.2010

Ryan turned 3!

We had such a great day. We ended up going to the zoo which was also one of the activities for senior week with Eric's classmates. We had such a great time.

Morning of his birthday.

Here we are at the zoo.

Ryan loved the train ride.

We had Krispy Kreme donuts that night. Ryan loves Krispy Kreme, but who doesn't? Plus we figured if we had his birthday cake the next night he would have two chances to blow out candles. Ryan had been talking about blowing out candles for a while, ever since he went to his friend Nolan's birthday party.

That is one happy boy!

Ryan loves horses so I made him a barn cake. 

Happy Birthday Ryan! We love you so much and are so lucky to have you in our family!

 

I've been so excited about this picture. Eric DREW this! He is quite the artist. He has just been so busy with school that he hasn't had a chance to draw lately. He finished this picture two or three years ago, but I've just now gotten around to framing it. It is stipple, and the detail is amazing! 

Look at all those little dots of ink!!

A couple people have asked me how I did the profile pictures of my kids. So I decided to do a little tutorial because if you are anything like me you like to see pictures along with instructions.

This is very easy. It just takes a little bit of time and patience.

First get a profile picture of your subject. Ryan's was easy to get. Sarah on the other hand was a little more difficult. I just followed her around and took lots and lots of pictures. I should have had Ryan get her attention (he's really good at making her laugh) and that would have saved some time for sure.

Next I used my photo editing program. I know there are lot's out there. I wish I could say I had Photoshop but I can't stomach spending that kind of money...maybe someday...{sigh}. Anyway, I use Corel Paint Shop Pro X2. I've really liked it. The only down side is that it isn't compatible to our Mac laptop so I get stuck in the office editing photos :(.

All I did was erase everything I didn't want included in the photo with the Background Eraser Tool.

I started off with a large circumference and then got smaller as I got closer to the face and hair. The more you zoom in on the image the cleaner the resulting silhouette will be.

Once you've got the background erased you then adjust all the settings.

In this program I go to Enhance Photo --> Smart Photo Fix.

Next darken everything. You'll be able to easily spot any areas you may have missed erasing. I also added some text with their names and year.

And there you have it. I absolutely love the results!

Let me know if you try it and how they turn out. I'd love to know!